Nesting in light: detail from a stained glass window by Laura Fuller, Portland, Maine. Photo by Amanda Painter.
The waxing Moon enters home-loving Cancer today, making this is a good weekend to nest in. But Cancer is an emotional sign, so be prepared to feel anything that comes up for you a bit more deeply than usual over the next couple days, as the Moon picks up on considerable energy currently in Pisces. Note that the Moon is building toward the Virgo Full Moon on March 8.
Planets clustered in Pisces, Aries and Taurus when Venus ingresses Taurus.
Closer to the present moment, there are a number of aspects this weekend that point to turning points in relationships, including leaving behind one form of relating for another – or perhaps finding a new perspective on how your relationships can work. There are also some potentially volatile triggers in the sky, calling for awareness as to whether any conflict you may experience is actually located between you and another, or within yourself.
Today Mercury enters Aries, where it will conjoin Vesta and Uranus. Mercury in Aries is quick and impetuous anyway; add Uranus, and the potential for rashness increases exponentially. But this same alignment is also a source of potentially excellent ideas, and a drive for personal liberation.
Keep in mind how sudden decisions may impact your personal relationships, no matter how enthusiastic you may be about them. Anything you decide now is subject to revision, as Mercury is currently treading the degrees where it will be retrograde between March 12 and April 4.
Mercury conjunct Vesta is a reminder to be wary of any tendency toward self-sacrifice for anything that is less than what is right for you. But it’s equally a reminder to be alert for self-obsession. Vesta is about devotion, so we can take this aspect as a question: What are you devoted to?
Meanwhile there’s a T-square made up of the Pisces Sun opposite retrograde Mars in Virgo, and both of them square a deep-space point called the Great Attractor. The GA is in mid-Sagittarius, and it has the effect of polarizing people and situations.
With this whole setup, there are two kinds of tension: the square tension is felt internally and wants us to act on it to resolve it; the opposition tension seems to be located between us and someone else, and responds well to careful negotiation with each side separately. Mars retrograde (close to Psyche) suggests you watch out for self-criticism if your desire to ‘fix yourself’ seems at odds with the ‘you’ you’d like to be. If the goal looks unattainable, remember that picking on yourself won’t get you there any faster – and the first step is simply to envision how you’d like to feel.
On the other hand, you may feel an urge to step out of any relationship that is not serving your growth goals. Ask yourself whether the relationship itself is holding you back, or your conception of it. Mars opposite the Sun is an aspect that could light tempers, so keep an eye on your emotional temperature and step back before you get too hot. Action need not be dramatic to effect significant change – perspective can count for a lot. Mars close to Psyche (with both retrograde) is a caution against passive-aggressive activity such as sabotaging a situation you don’t want to deal with directly.
As mentioned in this space earlier this week, Venus is in late Aries opposing retrograde Saturn in Libra. We described this aspect in Monday’s Daily Astrology:
Venus in Aries can be an uncomfortable place for the goddess of love, since it brings out a tendency toward self-absorption; Saturn in Libra has been pushing us to restructure and rebalance our interpersonal relationships, and since it has been retrograde, our inner experience of them. This looks like a question of balancing the need for individuality with the need for mutual benefit. The two don’t have to conflict — but they will if the situation — whatever situation this describes — is allowed to progress in an unconscious way.
Much of the astrology is asking us, through squares and oppositions, to become conscious of when we tend to locate our personal ‘stuff’ in someone else or in a relationship, versus when we are clear that it is all ours – and that we can follow that ‘stuff’ to its roots in our lives. Even Juno, which is making a conjunction to the North Node in early Sagittarius, wants us to look at cause and effect in our relationships. Where do our jealousy and tendencies to control really come from? Are you able to see the ways in which they may be keeping you from connecting with your purpose in this life?
Try asking yourself this weekend how much your focus on ‘fairness’ and your ‘place’ in relationships may be a distraction from finding your place in your own life. Depending on the answers you hear, you could find a way to open up to true intimacy – which is an equation involving vulnerability, giving and allowing yourself to receive. Venus entering its home sign Taurus on Monday will be ready to help with that – but we have some work to do before we get there.
